To be jailed isn’t good for physical or psychological well-being. It just isn’t. To be behind bars during a pandemic, trapped in close quarters with troubled souls and miscreants — who may not bother to wash their hands — heightens the health risks. That’s why attorneys for R. Kelly, the indicted singer, sought his release from federal custody in Chicago.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York, where he also faces charges, took stock of the significant charges against Kelly. She sympathized with his anxiety about COVID-19. Then she denied his attorneys’ request that he be freed from the Metropolitan Correctional Center. “The defendant is currently in custody because of the risks that he will flee or attempt to obstruct, threaten or intimidate prospective witnesses,” Donnelly wrote earlier this month. When his attorneys tried again, Donnelly stuck to her decision: Kelly faces serious charges, including racketeering and sexual abuse, in multiple jurisdictions. He’s a flight risk. No bond, she said Tuesday, according to the Tribune’s Jason Meisner.

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That’s a good call by the judge after an appropriate back-and-forth with Kelly’s attorneys. The defendant will get his case heard in full if it goes to trial this fall.

Donnelly’s decision comes in puzzling contrast to another call Tuesday by U.S. District Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Chicago, who freed alleged street gang member Jose Flores from the same lockup. Flores, convicted of weapons charges, was released to the custody of his wife to await sentencing. He pleaded guilty in 2018 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors said he delivered two assault-style rifles to the Latin Saints. A different judge had ruled him a danger to the community.

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Flores’ attorney said he suffers from asthma and was simply the middle man in a weapons transaction. Pallmeyer indicated that being out on bond during the coronavirus stay-at-home order would be akin to home detention, which we’re all experiencing.

Is it? Are we all on home detention? Pallmeyer heard the case, not us. Our view is that while detainees and convicted prisoners have a right to petition for release to avoid contagion and deserve to be heard, protecting public safety is paramount. Anyone who represents a threat to the community or is a flight risk is behind bars for a reason. Even during a pandemic.

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A similar triage process is underway in the Cook County criminal justice system. Cases are going before judges to determine whether offenders should be released from custody with an emphasis, appropriately, on defendants held on nonviolent or probationable felony charges. The Cook County Jail is a COVID-19 hot spot; at least one correctional officer and six inmates have died. As Sheriff Tom Dart works to make the jail as safe as possible, the inmate population Thursday morning was 4,178, down from about 5,700 pre-pandemic. Most of those in custody now occupy single cells to help fight the pandemic’s spread.

Petitioners want the jail cleared of as many suspects and offenders as possible. No one wants to be locked up with a potentially deadly virus. Understandable. Dart and corrections officers have an obligation to keep the incarcerated as safe as possible and themselves too. But lockups are difficult places to enforce social distancing and other safety measures. Defendants live in close quarters. The best advice for staying healthy is to avoid trouble with the law.